Jay Pritchett
|Image = JayPritchettS6.jpg |Actor = Ed O'Neill |First = Pilot |Name = Jason Francis Pritchett |AKA = Old Timer, Jay-Lo, Smarty Pants, Bucket List, Mr. P, Sexy Pants |Gender = Male |Place = May 23, 1947 California, USA |Profession = Owner of Pritchett Closets and Blinds |Family = Mr. Pritchett† - Father Mrs. Pritchett† - Mother Gloria Pritchett - Wife Claire Dunphy - Daughter Mitchell Pritchett - Son Manny Delgado - Step-Son Joe Pritchett - Son Donnie Pritchett - Brother Becky Pritchett - Sister Irene Pritchett - Sister in-Law Michael Pritchett - Nephew Unnamed Niece-in-Law Melanie Pritchett - Great-Niece Stella - Pet DeDe Pritchett - Ex-Wife Phil Dunphy - Son-in-Law Haley Dunphy - Granddaughter Alex Dunphy - Granddaughter Luke Dunphy - Grandson Lily Tucker-Pritchett - Adoptive Granddaughter Cameron Tucker - Son-in-Law Lucas Williams† - Ex-Father-in-Law Mrs. Williams† - Ex-Mother-in-Law CeCe Williams - Ex-Sister-in-Law BeBe Williams - Ex-Sister-in-Law Fulgencio† - Father-in-Law Pilar - Mother-in-Law Sonia - Sister-in-Law 2 Unnamed Brothers-in-Law (via Gloria) |Seasons = S1 - S2 - S3 - S4 - S5 - S6 - S7}}'Jason Francis "Jay" Pritchett ' is the patriarch of the family and father of Claire, Mitchell and Joe, who is on the south side of middle age. He is married to Gloria and is stepfather to Manny; however he is much older than Gloria and is often mistaken for her father. At times there is a cultural clash between Jay and his wife and stepson because of their strong Colombian heritage. Most of the time Jay manages to tolerate Manny's sensitivity and Gloria's attitude. Although he usually acts tough, he values all of his extended family members. He makes a business in the closet industry, and also spends a majority of his time golfing. In Season 4, he is expecting a new child, Joe, who was born in "Party Crasher". Biography Before the show Jay was born on May 23, 1947 to Mr. and Mrs. Pritchett. He also has a sister Becky and a younger brother Donnie. When Jay was 10 and Donnie was 8, a bully named Joey Calieri took Donnie's bicycle and Jay put Joey's head in the ice and when Jay was 12, he stayed overnight at his best friend Jim's house and they sneaked off to the movies and saw Solomon and Sheba when neither of them wanted to go to sleep ("Boys' Night"). Later in his life, Jay married DeDe Williams and together they had two children: Claire and Mitchell. They were married for 35 years until they divorced when Dede left to find herself. Later on, Jay remarried a Colombian woman Gloria who had a son Manny Delgado from her first marriage to a crazy man named Javier. Season 1 Pilot Jay is first seen watching his stepson Manny's soccer game. Also there, Gloria is eagerly and loudly shouting encouragement to her son, and begins arguing with another parent. Jay asks her to take it down a notch. Jay and Gloria are then interviewed, where Gloria discusses the differences between their backgrounds: she is from a small area in Colombia which is "number one for murders", while Jay comes from the city and owns a big business. Back on the pitch, Manny lets the other team score a goal when he is distracted by a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl riding by on a bicycle, much to the team's dismay and the dismay of one of the parents, who Gloria threatens to 'take her out'. Gloria speaks to the father of one of the other players, who assumes that Jay is her dad. After the match, Manny tells Gloria that he's quitting soccer and wants to visit the mall and tell his sixteen-year-old crush, Brenda, that he loves her. In an interview, Gloria tells that Manny is more like his father; very passionate. She says that all they did was "fight and make love." This is a shocker to Jay. After arriving at the mall, Jay tries to convince Manny not to admit his love for Brenda, but Manny does it anyway. Moments after Manny reads a poem, she reveals she has a boyfriend. Jay is mistaken for a mall walker so he decides to buy some new fashionable clothes. In in interview with Mitchell, it's revealed Jay isn't comfortable with him being gay even after 5 years. The last scene is at Mitchell and Cameron's house where Lily is going to be introduced to the rest of the family. We learn that all three families are related. Before Lily is introduced, Jay, who is uncomfortable having a gay son, says that Mitchell and Cameron shouldn't adopt and, if they're bored, should get a dog. Cameron enters, holding Lily aloft before the family while "Circle of Life" from The Lion King plays. The entire family, including Jay, fawns over her. The Bicycle Thief In an interview, Jay is asked what's the key to being a great dad, and he can't come up with an answer. He is later seen in a fancy car and makes fun of Luke's girly bike, calling him Sally. Phil says he is getting a new one, and Jay agrees before he drives off. Later, he tells Gloria he is taking her to the wine country to relax for a couple days while Manny goes with his dad to Disneyland. Gloria reminds him he has to help Manny make his fan, in an effort of bonding the two. Jay gets annoyed that Manny is obsessed with the safety and tells him to skip those directions. It is also shown that Jay is a little jealous because Manny speaks so highly of his dad, Javier. Gloria walks in with some drinks and pretends not to notice the tension between Manny and Jay. When Jay is installing the fan, one of the blades falls and hits Manny, and he says he broke his arm. He and Jay fight about the safety, then Manny says he hates Jay and doesn't want to live with him. Jay yells back, but is shown to be upset from the fight. While Manny is waiting for his dad to pick him up, Jay gets a call saying Javier can't make it. Jay gets upset and feels bad for Manny, saying "Who's the bad guy now?" He goes outside to tell Manny and covers for his dad, saying that Javier gave his airplane seat up for an old lady. Manny doesn't believe him, but Jay assures him it's true. When the limo-scene comes to take Jay and Gloria to the wine country, he tells Manny his dad wanted Jay to take him and Gloria to Disneyland. Manny is very happy, and at the end of the day he evens falls asleep on Jay. Jay finally answers the question about being a good dad, and he said mainly, it's just about showing up. Come Fly with Me Jay is at home putting his model airplane together. After being pressured by Claire, Phil does his usual job of trying too hard to ingratiate himself with Jay. He thinks Jay can't handle the fact that, being the silver back papa ape, this new stud comes in beating his chest and is taking away one of his females. Phil is not the enemy: poachers are. Still, Jay lets him help with the model airplane and asks Phil, out of kindness, if he wants to fly it. Gloria will take Alex out on the town, and Claire gets to stay home and watch Manny. Jay and Phil are having fun flying the remote-control model airplane. Well, Phil is. He sees the peacefulness of flying a plane and insists on talking to Jay about it constantly. Jay suggests doing a "thread the needle," where Jay will fly the plane through a hoop that Phil holds. Jay missed, and nailed Phil in the nose with the plane. It was by accident, as far as Jay was concerned. Jay drops Phil off, bringing his nose in a separate bag. Claire is beside herself because she knows Jay did the "thread the needle" miss on purpose. She hates that Jay never took to Phil and she is ready to throw him out of the house. Jay finally relents and apologizes to Phil, saying that he actually likes him. Unfortunately for Jay, Phil is under the influence of a lot of painkillers and sits on Jay's lap for a big hug. This of course is the time for Mitchell and Cameron to arrive, and Cameron gets on Jay's lap to get his in-law love. Manny decides to join the pile. The Incident Things are a bit strange around the house. Gloria wants Jay to join her in the shower. A bird gets stopped by a window and stops Jay from getting lucky. When Gloria and Jay were first married, DeDe wanted to be invited to the wedding to prove she was "over" Jay and Gloria getting married, and Mitchell convinced them to invite her. She had a few too many "Horny Colombians," as Gloria's male relatives called them. That is, the same ones that kept grabbing Claire's behind at the wedding... with Phil's semi-tacit approval. DeDe gives a toast that made the Nuremberg trials seem like Mardi Gras. And that was before she was dragged out kicking and screaming...and mocking Gloria... and had wedding cake all over her backside. Mitchell stops at Jay's house to ask him if it's OK to invite DeDe to dinner. He is alone, because Manny decided to take Jay's advice for revenge after getting a dingdong drawn on him at a slumber party... by setting fire to the kid's bike ("Not my best parenting moment."). Jay is not amenable to the idea of DeDe coming to dinner to talk to Gloria, so much so that he is pretending this conversation with Mitchell is not happening so he can have full deniability with Gloria when Mitchell springs it on her. A fight ensues later, but in the end, everybody is happy. Coal Digger It's time for the big game at the Pritchett house. Well, Jay doesn't want anybody over, since people who don't know football tend to talk while Ohio State is on. At Jay's house, Phil huddles Manny and Luke together, after his customary uncomfortable hug with Gloria, to discuss feelings, but Jay streamlines the conversation by getting them to agree they don't hit each other in this house. A point he emphasizes by smacking both upside the head. There is a fight where Luke accidentally admits that Claire called Gloria a gold digger. Needless to say, Gloria is completely offended and refuses to come out of her room. Jay is not happy with Claire. She tries to defend herself by saying that it was over a year ago when she said it, and that she is young and gorgeous, while Jay is... and she notices how deep the hole is. Jay is upset that Claire thinks he can't get someone like Gloria, so he gets some advice on if he is sexy. Mitchell isn't having it, but Cameron likes the dangerous/rich combination Jay brings to the table and would totally pick him up in "one of his bars." Gloria still won't forgive her. Claire demands to know what she can do to make up for it, and Gloria suggests jumping in the pool. Claire doesn't want to do it, but she does. Gloria won't fall for the old "help me out of the pool" trick, so Jay just pushes her in. The rest of the family follows. Run for Your Wife Gloria cannot believe that Manny is going into 5th grade. Jay and Gloria have a disagreement over Manny's decision to wear a Colombian poncho on his first day of school. Manny wants to show his classmates that he is proud of his Colombian heritage, but Jay thinks he will get beat up because of it. Gloria tells Jay that he is overreacting and consequently undermining Manny's confidence. After Jay drops Manny off at school, he returns back to the house to get Gloria and treat her to a spa day. When getting into Jay's car, Gloria discovers Manny's poncho thrown in the trunk. She makes Jay drive back to Manny's school and return it to him, showing his support for whatever Manny wants to do. When Jay and Gloria arrive at Manny's school and pull him out of class, Manny thinks that they are there to tell him someone has died, which is usually the case when you get pulled out of class in Colombia. Jay gives Manny's poncho back to him, and Manny informs his parents he will be playing the traditional Colombian pan flute, and doing the dance. Gloria then tells Jay to break the flute because the poncho plus the flute plus the dance is more than she can handle. So, Jay stomps on the flute, "accidentally" breaking it so Manny cannot perform. At the end of the episode, all of the families reflect on how difficult it is to be a parent, but despite of all of the trials, it is the best job in the world. En Garde Everybody is enjoying Manny's interest in fencing. Jay couldn't be prouder, especially since he didn't have any trophies Claire or Mitchell won growing up. There may not be an actual final meet for Manny. He decides he wants to retire, thus ending Jay's hope of a trophy at his house. But Gloria is supportive of his retirement...until Manny tells her that it's because he doesn't want to fence against a girl. Needless to say, Gloria rips him one for not respecting women, and the match is back on. Jay is especially happy, since he already had t-shirts made that said "Who Da Manny?" They went well with "Haley's Comets" when she ran a 5K a few years back. Claire's "Claire and Present Danger" shirt tops all of them, though. Before the finals start, Jay and Gloria find out that the girl Manny's competing against had many bad things going on in her life and they try to tell Manny to tank the match, but he misinterprets their hand gestures as "show no mercy." And he doesn't. It's a slaughter. Jay is mortified to be bringing a four-foot trophy to the car, until he sees Mitchell and Claire ice dancing together. Great Expectations Gloria is thrilled to have Lily over, as Claire and Phil's kids are already sleeping over, and even Jay is enthused. It's at Jay's house, where everybody is in their PJ's, he makes Sloppy Jay's (Jo's, natch), and they watch a Western. At least, he does. However, Manny is more than a little excited about Haley coming over, so Jay must ready the hose to be on the safe side. Perhaps they'll need the hose for Haley as well, who wants to hang out at a party at a boy's house down the street instead. Haley, Alex, and Luke arrive at Jay and Gloria's house. Lily is already taking to Gloria's singing, Luke is practically in tears, and Haley is already trying to worm her way out of staying at Grandpa's. At their poker game, Gloria has a great pair, but Haley gets a straight and heads straight out. However, Grandpa is lightning fast and is already ahead of her. Under the guise of fixing the lights, Jay knew these moves Haley was trying because Claire tried the same things when she was 15. Jay has been very successful in preventing Haley from escaping, but Gloria realizes that she doesn't want Haley resenting her grandparents. Even though Claire and Mitchell pulled the same stunts, Gloria wants Jay to act more like a loving grandpa instead of a tough parent. He relents and invites Dylan into the house, who was hiding in the bushes waiting to take Haley to the party. Haley is more than happy...until Dylan gets a whiff of the Sloppy Jays and notices "The Gunfighter" on the TV. They're in for the night. Although Luke is determined to make sure Jay is still alive. Fizbo Everybody is gathering at the hospital, but we don't know what's going on. Jay is beside himself, in spite of Mitchell's reassurances that it could have been worse. He wanted to know how this could happen. Grandpa Jay is the grandpa we'd all like to have, since he's getting Luke a crossbow. Gloria objects, but only on the basis of how accident-prone Luke is. Not like her, who had a machete as a kid. Manny needs advice from Jay on how to get a hot girl, since obviously Jay is an expert in this. Jay's advice to Manny is... be the funny guy. This instead of having power or money. Right when Mitchell is telling Claire that Fizbo "is a bad-ass," the scorpion makes its appearance and scares the crap out of Fizbo, who runs, as do the kids near him. He knocks over the crafts table and gets too close to Phil, who freaks and backs into Jay. The crossbow goes off accidentally and deflates the bouncy castle, and Bianca, the girl Manny was trying to impress, was trapped. Undeck the Halls Season 2 Jay's brother comes to town and their brotherly ribbing goes a little too far, but when Jay finds out Donnie is suffering from cancer, he becomes more sympathetic and near the end, the brothers share an emotional moment and make up. Jay and his family start owning a dog named Stella which he originally did not want to keep and Jay appears to start showing much more affection towards her than to Gloria. Season 3 Season 4 Jay becomes 65 years old and learns from Gloria that she is pregnant ("Bringing Up Baby"). In the episode "Party Crasher", his son, Joe is born just after midnight on Manny's birthday. Relationships Claire Jay does not express his love for Claire and Mitchell very well. Claire says he has always had trouble expressing his love. Jay and Claire's relationship were strained during her teenage years, during which Jay reveals she was once found by the cops naked with her boyfriend after a party. In "My Hero" Claire reveals she still finds Jay condescending and rude to her, but after overhearing Jay express his concern for Mitchell's well-being she views him in a more positive light. Despite all their troubles, Claire is closer to her father because of her mother's criticisms. Mitchell Jay has baggage with his son, Mitchell. Jay was a tough father growing up and took a while to accept that his son was gay (even though it was obvious in childhood). This has led Mitchell to very much want to appeal to his father, however it doesn't take long for one to disappoint the other. Jay has recognized his mistakes with his son and has tried to reflect better understanding with his stepson, Manny. Despite Mitchell's complaints, he learned patience in dealing with his father and strength in acceptance (though it is often forgotten). Phil Phil is Jay's son-in-law. Jay usually mistreats and antagonizes Phil and Phil always tries really, really hard to gain approval from Jay and Jay is very stubborn at not giving him any. It is almost as if Jay doesn't like Phil at all, but Jay tells Phil directly that he liked him and also thinks very highly of him, despite their differences. Once to Jay's dismay, he accidentally told Phil that he loved him, but Phil was too busy and didn't hear it. Jay introduces Phil as "Phil is my son-in-law," but Phil says it sounds like he is saying, "Phyllis, my son-in-law." Phil also complains that Jay says "Dumb-phy" instead of "Dunphy." Phil once fixed Jay's printer and since it is Phil's only accomplishment with Jay, he brings it up every chance he gets. Gloria Jay loves his wife Gloria, but they sometimes bicker over their life and about Manny. Also, Jay struggles to cope with Manny and Gloria's Colombian heritage. Vincent Vincent aka "Shorty" is Jays' best friend. and Shorty.]] Jay gives Manny's poncho back to him, and Manny informs his parents he will be playing the traditional Colombian pan flute, and doing the dance. Gloria then tells Jay to break the flute because the poncho plus the flute plus the dance is more than she can handle. So, Jay stomps on the flute, "accidentally" breaking it so Manny cannot perform. In "Fifteen Percent"; where Vincent is first introudced, Mitchell thinks that Vincent may be gay as Vincent touches Mitchells coat, when he first meets him, a little too much; all over. Jay comes home to Gloria who also believes that Shorty is gay. Gloria convinces Jay that Shorty is gay. Jay later tells him that he will help him come out as he had the same situation with Mitchell, when Jay tells Shorty that he can tell him his situation, Jay waits for Shorty to say "I'm gay" he insteads says he's in debt and when Jay brings up 'gay' Shorty becomes outraged that Jay suddenly thinks this and asks where he got that thought from but Jay ends up in further deep argument with Shorty. Jay and Shorty later resolve their conflict when Jay helps him out with his debt, Shorty gives Jay 2 tickets (one for each) to see Michael Bublé, Jay, thinking that the ticket is for Gloria, tells Shorty that Gloria will love them, Shorty corrects Jay that the ticket is for him. It's evident that Jay probably doesn't want to go. After this Shorty sees a guy walking and asks who does his hair and calls him handsome, which receives a look from Jay. Family Very little of Jay's family has appeared on the show. His father fought for the U.S., thus indicating that he may have fought in the war and it seems that he wasn't always affectionate with Jay. He died at the age of 63. It appears Jay was very affectionate with his mother. He had written her a poem for Mother's Day one time as a boy and one time when Jay had a Little League Coach during a football game and was laying on to him about something, she came charging out of the stands and went up to the guy face-to-face and nose-to-nose and told him "Nobody and I mean nobody yells at my little boy". which caused Jay to start crying when he told this story to his family. Jay also has a brother, Donnie. They at first have problems, but when Jay discovered that Donnie was suffering from cancer, he was much more sympathetic and the two of them shared an emotional moment. Along with Donnie, Jay also has a sister, Becky. In The Kiss, Jay mentioned that his father thought he was Becky when their dad kissed Jay good night. Interests Jay enjoys traditionally manly hobbies such as watching football (he used to be a quarterback in college) constructing model airplanes, golfing, and fishing. Trivia *He, Gloria, Phil, Claire, Mitch, and Cam are the only characters who have appeared in every episode. *Jay can be seen reading a newspaper that was previously seen in Married With Children, which he starred in. *He likes constructing model airplanes ("Come Fly with Me", "Baby on Board", "ClosetCon '13"). *He enjoys golfing ("Fifteen Percent", "Earthquake", "Lifetime Supply", "A Slight at the Opera"). *His favorite song is "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips ("The Late Show"). Appearances Gallery Jay Pritchett.jpg|Season 1 Jaypritchett.jpg|Season 2 Jay.jpg|Season 3-6 Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Adults Category:Pritchett Family Category:Content Category:Divorcees Category:Fathers Category:Grandfathers Category:Uncles Category:Bullying Characters